Bring the taste of the West Coast home with killer fish tacos

Killer Fish Tacos with Fresh Fruit Salsa made from a recipe in the Sobo Cookbook by Lisa Ahier with Andrew Morrison.

Photograph by: Gwendolyn Richards
, Postmedia News

The untamed western edge of Canada is one of my favourite places in the world.

The rugged coast line interspersed with stretches of sandy beach, the rainforest all dark green, damp and mossy, it is a place of escape.

It is also a place of unexpectedly amazing food from the high-end hotels that dot the landscape from Tofino to Ucluelet to the seasonal shacks and vans that dish up fish and chips and tacos.

Among those who have found culinary inspiration on the West Coast are Lisa Ahier and her husband Artie, the owners behind Sobo, a bricks-and-mortar restaurant that started out as a purple truck in a gravel parking lot. From that truck, Sobo gained a following for its local and seasonally driven menu that takes advantage of all the ingredients found in and around Pacific Rim National Park.

The appeal of that focus on fresh, with recipes influenced by the couple’s work around North America, particularly in the Southwestern U.S., continued when they eventually moved from the truck into downtown Tofino where Sobo’s reputation still grows, earning the restaurant numerous accolades and awards.

During a trip there a few years ago, I made a point of stopping at Sobo — the last meal before turning my car east to head back home — after hearing it was worth a visit. I later regretted saving it for the final day; I would have happily gone in a few more times to try other things on the menu.

Now, those of us craving those flavours have a chance to recreate them in our own kitchens with the release of The Sobo Cookbook (Appetite by Random House) by Lisa Ahier with Andrew Morrison.

Comfort food recipes are intermingled with more exotic fare, but all are rooted in the idea that good food starts with good ingredients.

Among the recipes are stories of the foragers, fishermen, farmers and producers who provide the ingredients Ahier and her staff transform into tasty dishes.

For those of us in landlocked Alberta, some ingredients will be trickier to find, like fresh seaweed and wild nettles, but there are plenty of recipes that use items we can, thankfully, easily find here.

For me, though, there was one recipe in particular I wanted to try: the Killer Fish Tacos with Fresh Fruit Salsa.

I still remember the basket containing my tacos arriving in front of me as I sat in the restaurant that afternoon. I was taken aback that they weren’t the typical fish tacos. No deep-fried fish with cabbage in a flour tortilla here. Instead, the tacos were spilling over with fish cooked in chipotle peppers and adobo, topped with mounds of fresh fruit. The smoky heat of the spicy fish was softened by the chunks of kiwi, blueberries and pineapple, while the taco shell added a nice crunch.

Recreated in my own kitchen from the recipe in the book, the taste was the same.

The only thing missing was the scent of salt on the air and a chance to wander the beach after.

Killer Fish Tacos with Fresh Fruit Salsa

This recipe, which has appeared in The Best American Recipes 2000 and The Gourmet Cookbook, can and should be adapted to reflect what’s fresh and in season. Lisa Ahier says she’s made this with snapper and bass, but her favourite fish to use are salmon and halibut.

Fresh Fruit Salsa (see recipe below)

1 lb (500 g) wild salmon, boneless and skinless

1 lb (500 g) halibut, boneless and skinless

1 tbsp (15 mL) salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup small-diced red onion (about 1 onion)

1/2 cup puréed canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce

16 crispy hard taco shells

Prepare the fruit salsa.

Cut the salmon and halibut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes and season with the salt.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 1 minute. Add the fish and fry for about 3 minutes, until just cooked. Add the chipotle chilies and sauté for 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat.

Fill the taco shells halfway with the fish mixture, then top with the salsa. Serve immediately, two tacos per person.

Serves 8.

Fresh Fruit Salsa

Use what’s fresh and available for this salsa, Ahier says, rather than being a slave to the recipe.

4 kiwi fruits, diced small

1/2 pineapple, diced small

1 mango, diced small

1 small papaya, diced small

2 avocados, diced small

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine all the ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use. This salsa will stand for about 24 hours, after which time the fruit begins to break down.

Note: The fruit in this salsa should be diced smaller than for a fruit salad, but not so small that the fruit turns to mush. It should amount to 5 to 6 cups (1.25 to 1.5 L) all together. If you intend to prepare the salsa in advance, don’t add the avocado until immediately before serving as avocado turns brown quickly.

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